Cliff notes: Went from stock 20" wheels to 18" Forgestar F14s and lost 66 lbs of rotational mass.

I wanted much smaller wheels/tires for my car because they would be lighter, which improves acceleration, braking, handling, and the smaller diameter will also act like a small gear change. Drove it around today and OH MY GOD! It feels like a completely different car. It literally feels hundreds of lbs lighter. You know how you have a full car of friends driving around getting on it and then you drop everyone off and you can feel all the dead weight gone? That is exactly what the car feels like.

I know a lot of people will not dig the tiny front tire look, but my rear street tires I will be ordering are 27.3" tall so I wanted a smaller front and these are 26.7" tall. I used to daily drive a 98 SS with big and littles (skinnies on the front and big slicks out back) so I am used to this look, but these front tires still handle and stop decent. I think the next set of fronts I buy will definitely be the 255/45 size. I don't like how this tire looks like it has a little stretch to it and is a bit to short.

Long story: So just a little over 4 months ago I ordered some 18x8.5/18x11 set of matte black Forgestar F14 wheels after seeing this thread http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125456. I have always been a drag racer so I the 18"x11" rears with Nitto NT05R 315/40 18 were a no brainer. For the front I wanted the lightest F14 and that was the 18"x8.5". Since the width of the front was very close to stock I chose the stock front offset of 35mm. or the rears i researched, researched, researched and did a TON of measuring and mocking up to try to get the right offset. I don't like how some rear wheels stick out and I wanted mine to tuck in as much as safely possible. I ended up choosing a 48 mm offset for the rear. It sits EXACTLY where I want it to, flush with the fender and about an inch of clearance between the tire and the inner fender well.

There was a couple problems. One was that the lower control arm rubs on tight turns (so it will rub on hard launches also) much like the 17" forged Weld wheel fiasco. Not a big deal, I just clearanced the lower control arm and problem solved. The other problem is that I think they put the wrong finish on my wheels. I ordered matte black and when I opened them they look great but the finish looked really rough. I didn't think much of it until I found out Forgestar also has a finish called textured black. I found these pictures online and mine definitely looks like the textured one! They will be getting a phone call tomorrow morning.Matte blackhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/nickels...ream/lightbox/Textured blackhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/nickels...ream/lightbox/
I waited 4 months for these wheels and I don't know if I want to go through the trouble of sending them back.

On to the front tire dilemma. Since the Nitto 315/40 DR are 28" tall i decided to go with some Nitto 255/50 tires that are also 28" tall. I was thinking about going smaller on the front but could not find the right size in a Nitto. I had the tires put on and took a pic. Even thought the fronts and rears are both 28" tall for some reason the fronts just looked bigger to me and i didn't like it. I took the front wheels off and started looking for new tires. I decided to step down to 255/45 tires that were 27" tall. I remember seeing600hp-lpe's car and I liked the way it looked with a 26.9" tall wheel/tire set up (http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76884). Before I ordered them online I went to check my local tire shop. They didn't have the 255/45 tire but they had a 245/45 at a ridiculously low price. They are only 26.7" tall but I really liked that they have the exact same sidewall as stock tires so I went for it.

I have also decided to not daily drive the drag radials, with a 00 tread wear rating they are way too expensive to just wear them out going to the grocery store. I will probably order a set of 18"x10" rears, i already found a nice looking 295/40 tire with a 200 tread wear rating. If the DR last three times as long by not daily driving them it will pay for the extra rear street set up.

Now for the weights. I measured them with my bathroom scale but I wasn't too confident in the results (it said I had lost 64 lbs) so I looked up all the weights of the wheels and tires.

260.6 - 196 = 64.6 lbs. Plus add another pound or so for the roller skate weights that I cut off to clear the front wheels. For a grand total of about 66 lbs (37 lbs of that are off the front wheels!).

The first pic is of the 28" fronts and the rest are of the 26.7" fronts.

I like the look of the first picture with the taller 28" tire up front. Did your ABS or TC lights come on from running a 26" front and 28" rear? I thought two different diameters would affect wheel speed sensor readings.

I like the look of the first picture with the taller 28" tire up front. Did your ABS or TC lights come on from running a 26" front and 28" rear? I thought two different diameters would affect wheel speed sensor readings.

I didn't like how I could fee the tall front tire roll over when I was "testing" to see if the lower control arm hit the rears.

As far as the light, nope. The tire sizes are 26.7" and 28". That's a difference of 1.3" and the computer needs to see a wheel speed difference of 6% above a certain mph, by my calculations the difference is just under 5%. It is cutting it close with the drag radials, but the lights should not come on, especially when I switch over to my street rears. Maybe once my fronts are worn down a bit it might, but that would be a great excuse to buy the 255/45 tires.

So I was worried about driving on the drag radials and wearing them out while I am waiting for my street tires and figure out where I am going to order my next set of 18"x10"F14's when I see an awesome pic on the interwebs. I see my exact size street tires I ordered on an 18"x11" wheel and it looks pretty good, only the tiniest bit of stretch.
So what I am planning on doing is swapping the street tires to my current 18"x11" rears and then order a set of 18"x10" this way I don't have to worry about wearing out my DR just driving around. i don't mind waiting a while to go the track since it is hot as balls right now anyways.

Could you post a close-up pic of the finish, maybe just one spoke section or lug area of the wheel? Just looking at those pics above, it appears to be matte black finish. Matte black has a mostly smooth finish/touch to it, just like any matte black paint. Textured looks more like a teflon type finish, bumpy and slick feeling.